LESSON PLAN FOR 2ND GRADE UNIT ON VERBS

Language Arts: Past Tense Verbs

Instruction time = one hour
II. RATIONAL AND BACKGROUND
This lesson is designed to introduce students to past tense verbs. The students have ample
knowledge of verbs. They have already studied verbs and the concept of verbs in the present.
The students know that the verb is the action of a sentence and that all sentences must have a
verb. Also, the students know when the action of a verb is in the present.
The students are aware that a complete sentence structure must contain a verb. They are able to
consistently identify verbs in a sentence. The students have written sentences using verbs in the
present and were able to identify the action of the subjects they have written about.
III. LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. TLW be able to correctly identify a past tense verbs within
a sentence.
PI: After reading Hilburt The Halibut the class will discuss the verbs in the story. Using the
overhead projector and a copy of the story on a transparency the class will look at the verbs and
identify all the past tense verbs within the story. As a review we will also identify any verbs in
the present tense.

2. TLW Understand that ed can be added to many verbs to make them past tense. They will be
able to apply this knowledge by correctly adding ed to the end of a verb, making it past tense.
PI: After the students have been presented with the rules for adding ed to the end of a verb in
order to make it past tense they will apply their new knowledge to the sentences that the teacher
has written on the chalkboard.
IV. RESOURSES AND MATERIALS
Book Hilburt the Halibut (or another short story that contains a lot of past tense verbs).
Overhead projector
Copy of Hilburt the Halibut on a Transparency (or book that you are using).
Marker
Chalk
Chalk Board
Verb Cards

 Story When I Was a Little Girl/Boy (written by teacher)

Pictures of each student at a younger age doing an activity
Construction paper
2-3 word rings
V. CONCEPTS
1. You can change many verbs into the past tense form by adding ed to the end of the verb.
2. Verbs are words that tell an action. Past tense verbs tell that the action happened in the past.
VI. PROCEDURES
A. Introduction and Motivation
The teacher reads the students the story Hilburt the Halibut. The teacher will place emphasis on
the past tense verbs within the story.
After the story the class will have a discussion about activities that they have done in the past. As
the children talk about these past events the teacher can point out the past tense verbs that the
students are using in their oral language. The teacher will write the verbs on the chalkboard.
Once the teacher feel confident that the students understand the concept of past tense verb she
will explain to them that at the end of the lesson they will be using the pictures of themselves to
create a class book titled When I was a Little Boy/Girl.
B. LESSON BODY
The teacher begins the lesson by reviewing verbs and present tense verbs. She/He then asks the
student about the story they just hear and about the verbs within the story. The teacher then will
explain the concept of past tense verbs. The class will go over the story again using the
transparency and the overhead projector. As the class is going through the story the teacher will
ask the student to point out the past tense verbs, as they do this she/he will circle the verbs.
The teacher will write 3-5 sentences on the board leaving a blank space where the verb belongs.
She will have verb cards on the chalkboard beside the sentences. The verb cards will be both the
past and present tense of a verb. Students will be asked to come to the chalkboard and place the
correct form of the verb in the blank spaces of the sentences.
Ex. We __________ the cars.
I __________ a cake.
I know you __________ hard for the test.

Next the teacher will talk about the way the verbs on the verb cards end. They all have the ed
ending but what else is different she/he will prompt the students.
Now is the time that the teacher will explain the rules for adding ed to the end of a verb in order
to make it past tense.
Add ed to most verbs (looked, talked).
Drop the e and add ed to verbs that end with e (smiled, danced).
Change y to i and add ed to verbs that end with a consonant and y (carried, studied).
Double the consonant and add ed to verbs that end with one vowel and one consonant
(dragged. Stopped).
After looking at some sentences with verbs that associate to each of the rules the teacher will
give the students a worksheet in which they will have to apply the rules and add a verb to
sentences. As the students are working on the work sheet the teacher will walk around the
classroom in order to make sure the students are performing the task correctly. She/He will give
any added guidance that is needed.
If necessary the teacher will do more class instruction and write additional sentences on the
chalkboard for the student to complete as a class.
As a reinforcement activity the students will create a class book titled When I was a Little
Boy/Girl. The teacher will begin this activity by reading a story that he/she has written
him/herself titled, When I was a Little Boy/Girl. All of the verbs in the book will be past tense.
The book will include a story about the teacher as a child and will contain a picture of her/him.
The students will paste the pictures of themselves on a piece of construction paper. Each student
will write at least one sentence about the activity they are doing in the picture. The sentences will
begin with when I was a Little Boy/Girl; the students will finish the sentences using verbs in the
past tense.
C. Closure
To close this lesson the teacher will review the rules for making a verb past tense. She will also
review verbs in the present tense. As the teacher is reviewing he/she will also have the students
give examples.
After the review is completed each student will individually read the When I was a Little
Girl/Boy sentence that they have written. The students will point out the past tense verb that they
have used in their sentence. After each student has read his/her sentence the teacher will collect
them explaining that they will be laminated and put into a class book titled When I was a Little

Boy/Girl. Each student will have an opportunity to take the book home and share it with his/her
family.
VII. EVALUATION
A. Student assessment
The students will be assessed through observation. The ability to correctly insert the correct form
of a verb into a sentence. They will also be assessed by the worksheet they have completed and
by the quality of the sentence they have written for the class book, When I was a little Boy/Girl.
This is a sample of a story the teacher could write
When I was A Little Girl
When I was a little girl my dad and I went on a camping trip. One day he come to me and said, I
decided it would be fun if me and you would go camping. A few days later we packed up the car
and set out on the trip. We needed gas, my dad stopped at the first gas station he seen and
pumped gas into the gas tank until it was full. After diving four two hours we arrived at the
campsite. We pitched the tent first and then we unpacked the rest of our camping gear. After we
had all the gear placed where it belonged we explored the camping area. We discovered a stream
nearby, dad said; the stream would be good for fishing. We hurried back to our campsite and
gathered our fishing gear. When we returned to the stream we settled and began to fish. We
baited our hooks and threw in the lines. We snagged five fish in the first hour and then we headed
back to our tent. Once we arrived back at the tent it was time to build a fire. I gathered up
firewood and my dad started the fire. We cooked our fish on the open fire and when they were
done we gobbled them up hungrily. Soon night had fallen and it was time for sleep. As I
snuggled into my sleeping bag I anticipated what the rest of our camping trip would be like.

These are a few sentences that might be on a work sheet (I asked questions about the content of
what we are studying in other subjects)
Change the underlined verb into a past tense
Galileo invent the telescope.
Galileo love science.
Galileo study the stars with his invention.
Galileo worry that people would make fun of him.

#2251. Past Tense Verbs

Language, level: Elementary
Posted Sun May 13 20:25:02 PDT 2001 by Tania Yap (ytu_7@yahoo.com).
Singapore
Activity Time: 1 hour
Concepts Taught: Use of Past Tense Verbs
Objectives
Pupils should be able to
1. understand that verbs can tell about actions that happened in the past.
2. name past tense verbs when given present verbs
Strategies
Direct Teaching, Individual Activity and Group Activity
Context
In this lesson, pupils can practise sentence construction and apply their new knowledge through
creative writing.
INTRODUCTION
Tuning-in:
1. Teacher gets a pupil to do a jumping action. Ask pupils to name the verb that he is acting out
(jump). Write the verb on the board.
2. Do so for 4 other verbs: walk, kick, shout, laugh.
3. Teacher asks pupils to construct sentences using each of the verbs.
4. Teacher gets pupils to read the sentences.
DEVELOPMENT
PART ONE
Explaining Language Feature:
5. Teacher explains that the present tense is used when the action is done today or at the present
moment. If the action was done yesterday or in the past, they have to use past tense.
6. Teacher tells pupils that past tense means adding 'ed' behind the verb.
Pupils response:
7. Teacher refers to the sentence constructed on the board and add 'ed' to the verb 'jump', and add
in 'yesterday' to the sentence.
8. Teacher gets pupils to read the sentence.
9. Teacher asks pupils to change the other 4 sentences into past tense by doing likewise.
PART TWO
Explaining Language Feature:
10. Teacher explains that there are special words that change their spelling when they become
past tense. Show a few examples: run-ran, see-saw, come-came, go-went.
11. Teacher gets pupils to construct sentences using these past tense verbs.
12. Teacher hands out a list of commonly used past tense verbs.

CONCLUSION
13. Pupils are to do varied individual work according to their abilities.
14. The high and middle ability pupils are to identify and edit present tense verbs into past tense
verbs.
15. The low ability pupils are to match past tense verbs to their respective present tense verbs.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY
16. Teacher arranges pupils into groups, distributing the different ability pupils.
17. Each group is to write a composition based on a given picture, using past tense.

LESSON PLAN
Past Simple Questions- Simple Answers.
LEVEL: Elementary... Age??
LESSON LENGTH: 45 Mins.
OBJECTIVE: To be able to ask past simple question forms and give short answers.
TARGET LANGUAGE:
1. (a) Simple past closed question i.e. did + subject + verb in base form.
(b) Short answer i.e. yes + subject + did or no +subject + didn't.

ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE: Students will know the past simple tense(regular / irregular
verbs and negative form).
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS: One anticipated problem is that the students use a past
form of the verb to make the question instead of using the base form. E.g. Did you
went? Did you made? One more probable problem is that students may naturally
use the form of a positive statement to ask a question. E.g. You ate dinner
yesterday? You went to a party yesterday?
SOLUTION: (a)During the presentation stage draw attention to the verb tense in the
question form did + subject + verb.

(b)Practicing making questions and having the students put scrambled sentences in
order could help with their work on sentence structure problems.
(c) Drilling.
PREPERATION AND AIDS:flashcards: beach. sunbathing. swimming.
city. museum. restaurant.
treking. mountain. bridge.
Past simple dialogue+ list of
simple past questions and
answers relating to the text.
Jumbled questions and answers.
Stage 1
Warmer: 'Find someone who....' 5mins
Stage 2
Introduction: Elicit three characters who went on a weekend break/holiday- elicit
names,destinations, with the aid of the board/flashcards. 2mins.

Stage 3
In pairs have the students brainstorm ideas about holiday activities to the
destinations 2mins.
Stage 4
Use flashcards/board to elicit simple past tense sentences about holiday activities
5mins.
Stage 5
Drill chorally and individually. 1 min.
Stage 6
Review past tense sentences by flipping back through pictures. 2 mins
Stage 7
PRESENTATION:
Present target language: elicit the simple past question. Use the flashcards to elicit
questions about each character, paying close attention to the verb tense. Write
target language on the board and show the students how it is formed. Elicit the
short positive and negative answer form. Using the flashcards elicit questions and
answers from the student. 5 mins.
Stage 8
Drill chorally and individually. 2 mins.

Stage 9
CONTROLLED PRACTICE:
Give the students an easy dialogue text written in the simple past tense. Have the
students read the text 2mins.
Stage 10
Ask questions to check the students understanding of the dialogue. 1 min.
Stage 11
Students in pairs are given a set of jumbled questions and answers relating to the
text. They work in pairs to match the questions and answers. 5 mins.
Stage12
Go over answers. Let the students call on one another for the answer to the
question. 3 mins.
Stage 13
PRODUCTION:
Put students in new pairs. Students work in pairs to make a list of questions to ask
other students about their activities last weekend. 3 mins
Stage 14
Go over questions 3 mins.
tiresias
Registered Member

Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:05 pm
Location: england
Top
Lesson plan for simple past

by Lucy Fri May 25, 2007 1:11 pm

Dear Tiresias,
Thank you for your question. I have copied your lesson plan below and inserted
comments.

LESSON PLAN
Past Simple Questions- Simple Answers.
LEVEL: Elementary...
Comment: you might like to add something about age: are the students teenagers,
adults?
LESSON LENGTH: 45 Mins.
Comment: I dont think this is enough time to complete all you outlined above; I
suggest you spend more time on these activities or if you absolutely must stick to
45 minutes, drop some of them.
OBJECTIVE: To be able to ask past simple question forms and give short answers.
TARGET LANGUAGE:
1. (a) Simple past closed question i.e. did + subject + verb in base form.
(b) Short answer i.e. yes + subject + did or no +subject + didn't.

ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE: Students will know the past simple tense(regular / irregular
verbs and negative form).
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS: One anticipated problem is that the students use a past
form of the verb to make the question instead of using the base form. E.g. Did you
went? Did you made? One more probable problem is that students may naturally
use the form of a positive statement to ask a question. E.g. You ate dinner
yesterday? You went to a party yesterday?
SOLUTION: (a)During the presentation stage draw attention to the verb tense in the
question form did + subject + verb.
(b)Practicing making questions and having the students put scrambled sentences in
order could help with their work on sentence structure problems.
(c) Drilling.
Comments: Your solutions are very good and congratulations for remembering to
add them. You could mention at what point you intend to drill: will this be
immediately you hear mistakes or at some later point? Be careful with your spelling,
in British English, practice is a noun; of course this might just be a typo.
PREPERATION AND AIDS:flashcards: beach. sunbathing. swimming.

city. museum. restaurant.

treking. mountain. bridge.
Past simple dialogue+ list of
simple past questions and
answers relating to the text.
Comment: I think in some cases, spelling mistakes are acceptable but not in the
lesson plan of an EFL teacher. Once again, this might just be a typo, but I advise you
to correct these words before you show your lesson plan.
Jumbled questions and answers.
Stage 1
Warmer: 'Find someone who....' 5mins
Comment: I suggest you choose a different warmer. I dont think 5 minutes is
enough for a find someone who activity. It takes time to explain what is required
and it also takes time for students to get into the swing of it. Then, once theyre
involved, it can take time to stop them!
Stage 2
Introduction: Elicit three characters who went on a weekend break/holiday- elicit
names,destinations, with the aid of the board/flashcards. 2mins.

Stage 3
In pairs have the students brainstorm ideas about holiday activities to the
destinations 2mins.
Stage 4
Use flashcards/board to elicit simple past tense sentences about holiday activities
5mins.
Stage 5
Drill chorally and individually. 1 min.
Stage 6
Review past tense sentences by flipping back through pictures. 2 mins
Comment: In stages 5 and 6 you are working on simple past sentences which is
good. However, I dont think this is entirely necessary given your objective to teach
questions and short answers. In fact, it could lead the students into error (i.e. your
anticipated problems). If youre including these two stages as revision and wish to
keep them in your lesson plan, you should mention revision in your aims.

Stage 7
PRESENTATION:
Present target language: elicit the simple past question. Use the flashcards to elicit
questions about each character, paying close attention to the verb tense. Write
target language on the board and show the students how it is formed. Elicit the
short positive and negative answer form. Using the flashcards elicit questions and
answers from the student. 5 mins.
Comment: Im not sure that elicitation is the best form of presentation. Elicitation
works best when students have studied the language point previously and the
teacher aims to revise or reactivate the language. I suggest you think about another
form of presentation. Having said that you could elicit this language point by
drawing on students knowledge of present tense questions and negatives and
simple past negatives. You could ask them what similarities they know between
simple present and simple past negatives and how do they think the simple past
question is formed. However, I dont advise this because 1) it will take time, 2) you
might need to use the students mother tongue; are your students monolingual or
multi-lingual? and 3) there are other ways to present the language.
Stage 8
Drill chorally and individually. 2 mins.
Stage 9
CONTROLLED PRACTICE:
Give the students an easy dialogue text written in the simple past tense. Have the
students read the text 2mins.
Stage 10
Ask questions to check the students understanding of the dialogue. 1 min.
Stage 11
Students in pairs are given a set of jumbled questions and answers relating to the
text. They work in pairs to match the questions and answers. 5 mins.
Comment: Im not sure what you want to jumble here. I think you could clarify the
point. Are the questions and answers given to the students as complete phrases
and they match the question with the answer or are the words within each question
and answer jumbled as in your solutions. If it is the latter, I think you need to leave
more time for stage 11.
Stage12
Go over answers. Let the students call on one another for the answer to the
question. 3 mins.

Stage 13
PRODUCTION:
Put students in new pairs. Students work in pairs to make a list of questions to ask
other students about their activities last weekend. 3 mins
Comment: I think more time is needed for this stage especially if you want students
to form new pairs. Its important not to underestimate the time it takes to move
students around and for them to settle with their new partner(s).
Stage 14
Go over questions 3 mins.
Comment: I think its important to go over the questions and to correct any errors. I
think it would also be nice for students to use their questions with their classmates.
General comments:
Your lesson plan is well structured. The activities are suitable for the level of the
students and the language point you want to teach. I think you are being ambitious
about what you can achieve in 45 minutes, some slight changes will rectify this.
If youd like more ideas on teaching the simple past, you can look at other posts I
have written at the following links:
http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=871
http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=794
http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=743
Kind regards,
Lucy